In 1972, when the optical industry was thriving in the United States, two Polish immigrants decided to pursue their entrepreneurial spirit and open Randolph Engineering.

Jan Waszkiewicz and Stanley Zaleski envisioned a small business that would develop quality tools to help other companies produce frames and lenses.

Forty-one years later, Waszkiewicz’s son Peter is CEO and president of the same company his father helped found. The business has remained a family affair, with multiple generations of Waszkiewiczes and Zaleskis working in various roles at the Randolph-based company.

Randolph Engineering originally manufactured tools to create eyewear, but it now employs 64 people and produces frames for private companies and the U.S. military, including those used in the Gulf War.

More recently, it opened a branded product line, which will launch 15 new products before Jan. 5.

All of its eyewear is built in the Randolph headquarters, where 32 full-time employees work on assembly lines. Most of the equipment was developed in the Randolph factory.

Why did your father choose to stay in the eyewear industry?

He was the lead engineer at Marine Optical, and he worked there for eight years. That’s where he met his partner, Stanley. My dad hired him and they became best friends.

At the time, 90 percent of eyewear sold in the United States was being manufactured here, too. They had the American dream in their blood, so they decided to open up their own business.

How has Randolph Engineering grown since it first opened?

In the 1980s, the optical industry started going overseas and manufacturing companies were closing up. We basically decided that if we didn’t diversify, we wouldn’t have any work. So we said we know how to make the tooling, we know how to make the machinery, why don’t we start making our own frames?

And how has it grown since you took over the business?

I became president and CEO in 2004, and we were basically just doing military work at the time. We had scaled back our commercial efforts, but in 2008, as president of the company, I decided to re-enter the commercial market. My brother had great visions back in the early ’90s, and he was the one that really started Randolph’s commercial push. He was a great visionary, but we ran into financial trouble. We learned from our mistakes, and my dad would be so proud of where the business is today.

What is competition like for American-made eyewear?

It’s truly a highly competitive industry. We’re competing globally, and in order to remain competitive we have to produce a great product and back it up with a lifetime warranty, which we do.

Page 2 of 2 - Do you have any words of advice for a young entrepreneur?

Be committed, have a passion for what you’re doing, and remember that it’s a team effort that builds a business. It’s important to have the right people on your team because without a team you don’t have synergy.

Siobhán O’Grady may be reached at sogrady@ledger.com.Editor's note: Because of incorrect information provided by the company, the original version of this story gave the number of new products that will be released next year incorrectly.